Seven out of every 10 children in the age group of 13-15 years exercise for less than 60 minutes per day while more than one in five are overweight, placing them at a high risk of developing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which account for 60 per cent of all deaths in India, according to a report.
Stressing that there is a need to promote healthy behaviour among youths, the report said 19 per cent of boys and eight per cent of girls in the same age group have used a tobacco product in the past month.
The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) report released today also recommended strengthening regulations concerning food industry and setting a maximum salt, sugar and saturated fat content in food products in the country.
"Seven of every 10 boys and girls in the 13-15 year age group in India get too little exercise, meaning less than 60 minutes per day. More than one in five of them is overweight or obese, placing them at a high risk of developing NCDs," the report said.
It also recommended the creation of safe public spaces and infrastructure for sports and introduction of effective school-based interventions on diet and physical activity.
"Promoting healthy behaviours among young people is key to curbing a growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)," said Toshiko Kaneda and and Reshma Naik, who are the authors of the report 'Addressing NCD Risk Factors Among Young People: Asia's Window of Opportunity to Curb a Growing Epidemic'.
This comes in the wake of a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report which highlighted the problem of NCDs in India. Indians have a 26 per cent chance of dying prematurely between the ages of 30 and 70 due to the four major NCDs and they account for 60 per cent of all deaths in in the country, according to the WHO.
The four main NCDs--cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cancers--are caused primarily by exposure to tobacco, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and too little exercise. These behaviours often begin in young age.
"Among 13-15 year-old secondary school students in India, 19 per cent of boys and 8 per cent of girls have used a tobacco product in the past month.
"Most of this consumption is of non-commercially produced cigarettes-tobacco products like bidi, an inexpensive hand-rolled cigarette made of unprocessed tobacco wrapped in leaves," the report said.
Anand Krishnan, Professor at the Centre for Community
Medicine in AIIMS, said both in urban and rural India, people are increasingly eating processed and fast food, leading to a rapid increase in the obese population.
"There is an urgent need for both the government and private sector to adopt an integrated approach and work in close coordination to identify effective solutions and reduce the NCD burden of the nation," he said.
The PRB report was funded by the AstraZeneca Young Health Programme (YHP). The YHP was founded in partnership with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Plan International with local NGO partners.
Noting that the food processing industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian economy and accounts for about 50-60 per cent of the sugar, salt and fats consumed, the report termed as "challenging" to encourage healthy diets among young people.
Although India is taking relevant steps to address the health issues caused by harmful substances such as tobacco by introducing health warnings on tobacco packs, banning and restricting advertisement, promotion and sale amongst others, there is an urgent need to focus on fostering healthy behaviours among India's youth, the report said.
"Strong tobacco control policy measures in some countries like India, Nepal and Sri Lanka have set best practices for the region and the globe.
"India needs to step up enforcement of tobacco control policies to provide full protection to young people and introduce innovative prevention and cessation solutions to meet one of the NCD targets of 30 per cent reduction in tobacco use prevalence by 2025 that the country has adopted. Monika Arora, Director, Public Health Foundation of India said
India has a window of opportunity to promote healthy behaviours among its 253 million adolescents and to curb their risky behaviours so that they will grow into healthy, productive adults and to lower the future NCD burden, it said.
